virtualbox.org

Hi guys

My setup is a little old but shouldn't be causing any problems.
Virtual Box 4.2.12
Motherboard: Asus p5ql-pro
CPU: Intel E8500
Ram: 4GB
Host OS: Windows 7 Pro - 64bit

I can't get 64 bit guests not working and I have no idea why!

So according to the virtualbox documentation i've read i should be able to run a 64bit OS through either software emulation (as i'm running a 64 bit host) or hardware emulation. Unfortunately neither work!
I've checked both my motherboard and CPU models and both support VT-x. I have emulation to enabled in my motherboard (and for the sake of trying I've disabled and re-enabled it a couple of times).

If I try to boot a Linux Live cd for example it will bring up the boot menu then freeze once I select install/boot. If I use a multi-platform boot cd and select 32bit no problems, 64bit freezes. If I try an OSX virtual machine I'm prompted that it won't work because I don't have VT-x or AMD-V.

Thoughts/suggestions?

What exactly was the error message or other symptom that tells you it isn't working?

The E8500 supports VT-x (in fact the PC I'm using right now uses that same CPU). You need to enable it in the host BIOS. You also need to ensure that no other application is using it: main villains would be other VM platforms (e.g. Hyper-v), or a system level debugger might use it.

If you want further help then contrive to create a VM as best you can, make sure that VT-x is enabled in the VM settings, and try to install your 64bit OS. Then post the VM log file here as a zipped attachment. For how to access the log file see Minimum information needed for assistance.

No error message if I create a basic guest machine.
I just put together a little test machine now.

Here's the log. The log is taken from the moment it froze. I have a 64bit Debian install disk, the menu pops up and as soon as I choose install it freezes.

How would I check to see if another application is using VT-x?

Re-reading your post you mentioned "make sure that VT-x is enabled in the VM settings" so I google image searched it and discovered that I don't have the ability to use that setting.

My Acceleration tab is greyed out. Attached is a screenshot of my greyed out tab and bios settings

You should find the VT-x option under the Acceleration tab in the VM settings. Make sure the VM is shut down (not suspended), otherwise half the VM settings will be blocked off from you.

The acceleration tab is greyed out when the machine is suspended as pictured above

Uh, that's why I said to shut the VM down, don't suspend it.

Apologies. I meant shut down. In no way is the VM running and the tab is greyed out.

I looked at the log you provided above (did you edit the message to provide this? I don't remember it being there before).

Anyway, strange... According to the log, your PC doesn't have VT-x.

VBox.log wrote: 00:00:00.836286 HWACCM: No VT-x or AMD-V CPU extension found. Reason VERR_VMX_NO_VMX
00:00:00.836310 HWACCM: VMX MSR_IA32_FEATURE_CONTROL=0

Are you sure you aren't running VirtualBox inside another VM or debugger or something like that?

I think there's a little intel tool you can download to test if VT-x is available on your PC. Perhaps you should look for it.

I would also note that while the BIOS field you showed above looks right, I don't know for sure that it is (it could refer to VT-d). I also don't know that the option works. You would have to ask your laptop manufacturer about that.

Then maybe something else is using VT-x.
Do you have VMware or Hyper-V or any other hypervisor installed?
Did you try disabled your antivirus if you have one?

I did edit the message to include the log properly. I initially had it as a plain .txt file then realised it was suggested to be a zip so i changed it.

I'm not sure what's going on. My motherboard obviously supports VT-x as the setting is there, my cpu supports it yet it can't detect it. I haven't installed any other hypervisor (at least I don't believe I have) so I'm absolutely baffled. I've tried disabling my anti-virus to no avail.

Mpack do you know where to get this intel tool to test for vt-x? I took a quick look on intels website